Traction device for vehicle tires sometimes referred to as tire chains and particularly that type of traction device intended for application to dual wheel sets most frequently mounted on large trucks.
Dual wheels are two wheels mounted in a side-by-side relation and mounted on a common axle. Such wheels double the area of surface engagement and provide the advantage of greater load-bearing capacity and greater traction for driving and/or braking the vehicle, typically found on large trucks intended for hauling heavy loads.
With such an arrangement of dual wheels, the procedure of xe2x80x9cchainingxe2x80x9d the wheels is made substantially more difficult. The wrap around devices for such xe2x80x9cchainingxe2x80x9d are doublewide for simultaneous chaining of both tires. The operator/driver has to secure the chain at the inside of the inside wheel and the outside of the outside wheel, taking up slack as best as he is able with considerable effort.
The present invention, in a preferred embodiment, provides a dual wheel traction device that includes interconnected cable members. There is a pair of side cables that encircle the inside of the inside wheel and the outside of the outside wheel. Loops of cable are provided for each side cable with each loop having its two ends anchored in spaced apart relation to the same side cable. Opposing loop centers meet at the juncture between the two wheels and are secured together by connectors. There are multiple cable loops from each side cable joined at their centers by connectors which connections overlay the space between the dual wheel tires.
Each of the connectors have an inwardly projected loop or eyelet and a cinching or tensioning line slideably projects through the multiple eyelets to encircle the tire walls at the juncture between the tires. Provision is made for the cinching line to be cinched i.e., the circumference of the cinching line is tightened around the tire which serves to draw the connectors and thus the cable loop centers into the space between the tires. This tightens the cable loops to remove undesired slack.
It will be appreciated that the invention is directed to the manner by which the dual wheel chain is tightened, tensioned or cinched onto the dual wheels and is applicable to a number of dual chain types. One such variation is a ladder-type dual chain which has cross members in the form of elongate cables for chains that cross from one side member to the other. Each side member is fitted with a connector at its mid-point, i.e., between the tires, and each connector includes a slide-loop or eyelet that receives a tensioning/cinch line extended around the circumference of the tires. It will also be appreciated that the side members and cross members may be cables or interconnected chain links or combinations of the two.
The invention and its numerous variations will be more fully understood and appreciated with reference to the detailed description provided hereafter.